


Dress You Up

by elijahluv



Category: Take That (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-28 05:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19387585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elijahluv/pseuds/elijahluv
Summary: Completely based on the various pictures the boys are posting on Instagram of their fabulous outfits for the European tour dates, and the fact that it does indeed seem that Mark has been giving Gary fashion tips. If you follow the boys you'll know what I mean.





	Dress You Up

“I look ridiculous,” Gary mutters under his breath as he takes in his reflection in the mirror. “This isn’t me at all.” The black shirt decorated with silver stars clings to his body, he’s not sure what it’s made of, some weird mix of nylon and chiffon but it itches his arms like crazy. 

“You’re not finished yet!” Mark creeps up behind him, a bright vision in pink, brandishing a multicolored scarf and wrapping it loosely round his band mate’s neck. 

“Oh come on!” Gary whines, now not only do his arms itch but his neck too. 

“Shouldn’t have made that bet Gaz,” Howard sniggers from the corner of the room.

He does have a very valid point but really this was all Howard’s fault. Kind of. 

It was all fairly innocent, after their gig in Berlin they all wound down in Mark’s dressing room, still fairly buzzed from the audience. It had been a while since they’d played these parts of Europe and the audiences were loving it, Gary loved the intimacy of the smaller venues, he could actually see people. Hear them sing, watch them dance. Of course the huge display they put on back home in the UK was as grand as ever, one of their best, but nothing could beat playing in a theatre. It was the best stage. 

Poor Howard is lounging about on the sofa, nursing his sore eye. Gary reckons it doesn’t hurt that bad and he’s just hamming it up but he still feels sorry for his friend, it seems that every time they go on tour it’s always poor Howard who gets into a scrape or two. There is a joke in that somewhere about him being the oldest and getting clumsy and senile but Gary saves it for when Howard is a little better, at least better enough to stop wearing that ridiculous eye patch. 

Him and Mark are playing snap. Well if he’s honest he’s crushing him at snap. Gary has always been a bit competitive, kind of have to be in this business, but even he gets a bit tired of constantly beating his friend. 

“You ain’t very quick on the draw are you there lad?” He teases after his fifth consecutive win. 

Mark just smiles, clearly having too much fun to care. “Maybe I’m just letting you win?”

“Oh really?” Gary raises an eyebrow, “you hear that Dougie? He says he’s letting me win”

“Well you are a sore loser Gaz.”

“Oi!”

“It’s true,” Howard smiles. “Let’s be honest me and Mark just want an easy life.” 

“Is that so?” Gary retorts. “Well if that’s the case,” he turns his attention back to Mark who has already started cutting the deck for another round. “Why don’t we make things more interesting?”

“How so?” 

“Ok,” Gary shifts about a bit, getting a tad excited. They would never really bet money or anything serious like that, after all they were friends. “How about next round if I win you have to personally do all my ironing when I get home?”

Howard snorts from across the room, “he will lose on purpose, Mark likes ironing you daft sod.”

“Well what would you have him do?”

Howard sits up, a slight glint in his eye, “how about if you win you get to sing the lead on ‘Shine’ for the rest of the tour?”

“Ooh!” Gary snickers, “I do like that.”

“Of course you do,” Mark grumbles, “if it were up to you you’d sing everything.”

“That’s not true,” Gary pouts. “But hey give me any excuse to sing.”

“What about if I win?” Mark pouts back, “do I get the lead on ‘A Million Love Songs’?” He sulks, “it better be better than that, everyone knows ‘Shine’ is my song Gaz.” 

“You get to pick out Gary’s outfit,” Howard says, a massive gin on his face. 

“Err, what?” Gary blinks. God anything but that. I mean he’s not saying Mark picks bad clothes or anything like that but when it comes to fashion they aren’t exactly on the same page. 

“Yes please!” Mark claps his hands together, eyes shining. “That would be amazing!” 

“Oh thanks a lot Howard,” Gary rolls his eyes at him, the third band member now giggling like a school boy.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asks as innocently as possible. “Afraid you’ll lose?”

Gary isn’t afraid of anything, well not anymore. There once was a time Gary wouldn’t even leave the house, fear of pretty much everything on the outside, but not anymore. Gary was strong, he was resilient, he was Captain Barlow, he was...

“SNAP!”

“Oh bollocks.” He lost. 

So that’s how he has ended up looking like an 80's rock and roller still trying to seem down with the kids. It’s not fair really. Mark looks pretty much good in everything, that’s why he can get away with being a bit flamboyant every now and then. I mean he could wear a rubbish bag and fashion a hat out of tin foil and rock it. 

Howard as well still looks good, even with that bloody eye patch on. The black vest perfectly showcasing his toned arms the green trousers bringing out the lovely tan his friend has managed to get the last few days out in the sun. 

They always looked good. Gary, although yes he had lost a lot of weight and yes he was getting very muscular, when it came to clothes he was much better in a suit rather than any fancy fruity clothing Mark wished to put him in. 

“Is that my shirt?” He’s brought out of his internal rant as he spies the white ruffled shirt underneath Mark’s blazer. 

“What?” Mark blinks. 

“My shirt?” Gary’s confused, why on earth would Mark want to wear anything of his? 

“Of course not,” Mark blushes furiously, suddenly hurrying out of the room. “Probably just very similar,” he babbles to nobody in particular. “Besides we aren’t the same size, your shirt wouldn’t fit me,” he trips on a pair of trainers that Gary wore earlier on his way out. “Shit,” he curses, steadying himself on the door handle as he attempts to leave. “So, I’m going to go do my warm up now, see you out there!” 

“That is one weird dude,” Howard states. 

*** 

The show is over and once again it’s another success, the crowd were as energetic and loud as ever. It went so well Gary almost forgot about what he was wearing. Nobody laughed at him, the sky didn’t fall. 

They have gotten into a habit of posting some photos on Instagram before they go on and Gary is quite surprised at how many people are complementing him on his ‘new look’. Maybe he didn’t look so bad after all? It could be Mark was actually incredibly on point when it came to fashion and knew exactly what to put him in to make him look good. 

It still itched though, and now that the show was done Gary is finally able to take it all off. He starts with the scarf, tugging it hard, making it rip as he does. 

“Hey! That was one of my favorites!” Mark bursts into the room, looking particularly upset as he sees what Gary has done to one of his accessories. 

“Well it bloody killed,” Gary explains, although he does feel slightly guilty. He didn’t realize any of the clothes Mark gave him were actually his. “Look at this,” he gestures to his neck where there’s been some clear rubbing, a bright red ring encircling his skin. 

“What can I say? It hurts to look this good!” Mark giggles, rubbing his hand over what appears to be a case of rug burn on Gary’s neck. “By the way,” he goes quiet, eyes not quite meeting Gary’s. “This is your shirt.”

“Oh,” Gary sounds shocked, he doesn’t know why, he knew it was his, he said so earlier. What is more shocking is the fact that Mark is so embarrassed about wearing it; it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Unless...

“I like it,” Mark whispers, like it’s a secret. “It smells like you.” 

Suddenly the room is very hot and Gary is very much aware of how close Mark is to him right now, “I see,” he chokes, stuttering on his words. Takes a lot for Gary Barlow to become speechless. 

“I’m sorry you lost,” Mark continues, his hands now seemingly wandering down Gary’s chest, skillfully unbuttoning the shirt. “But it was Howard’s idea to have me dress you, not mine.” 

Gary swallows, not really knowing where any of this is leading but judging but the obvious bulge he can spot through Mark’s trousers he can only guess. “Well, what would you have had me do?”

Mark stops, his hands stalling slightly and he finally looks up, making some much needed eye contact because Gary needs to be sure this is what Mark really wants. 

“I never wanted to dress you,” Mark explains. “I’d much rather take your clothes off than put them on.”

Gary is very glad he lost.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments are appreciated! 
> 
> Also as a side note I think Gary did look rather dashing in mentioned outfit, this was not me taking the piss out of him I swear. We all know Gary looks good in everything. <3


End file.
